ofhope: ([ your christ has come ])
Joshua Christopher ([personal profile] ofhope) wrote in [community profile] paradisalogs2014-05-31 08:37 pm
Entry tags:

hope is your survival; OPEN

Who: Joshua and OPEN!
What: Supply trips to the castle, then a final farewell.
When: Today
Where: The castle, then the mansion, and anywhere in between!
Rating: PG for now

He had been here for five years, but if asked point blank, Joshua wouldn't have that number to offer. Time for him is as static as it is fluid; it's a contradiction and a necessity. While he might be able to control it in certain ways, to stop it all-together even, somehow it has still changed him without his permission or even acknowledgment until recently.

For him, names and faces can be as difficult to remember as years, but as he packs, they continue to pop up. The long-dead cell-phone is tucked away, and he thinks of Mai with her deadpan expression but warm arms. She had been worth remembering, enough that she occupies moments. Legato, Asuka, even Riful... He can't go far in the mansion without having to think of them, as they had all lived there. Pharos, too, but how could one ever forget Death? The mansion itself has originated as Zelman's, but the man's presence was no longer overpowering like it should have been, ever since Paradisa had forced it's changes. The mansion was different, but even where hallways and bedrooms looked different, he can still hear echoes of voices in rooms whenever he passes them.

It's the castle that makes him think of the others, like Abel, Colette, Fiore, and then there are those who he can say he remembers but haven't left. Yet. He's sure Cassandra won't be here for long, with her heroic duties required elsewhere, but the same can't be said for Spike. Some are just as basic to the castle as bread and butter, and maybe he had been thought of like that, and that's exactly why he's leaving. This is a decision he's made to be unlike them, to defy the castle even though it means he gives up his power. Because his power is not his here; it's soiled, and twisted, and useful to nobody, least of all him. This monstrosity has trapped him within it's walls one too many times, and now that he can again walk out, he's going to make this the last time he walks in.

Lucrezia will be the last one he thinks of before saying goodbye, because she had been the last to leave, and in some ways more memorable than any of the others. She had held a place nobody else had, just like his sister held a place nobody could. But he thinks that with time, if he isn't careful, he can forget Lucrezia's face as easily as he could forget his sister's. Despite this, Joshua doesn't pack pictures, or mementos. He packs things only an explorer would, because time has had it's way with him and he has grown weary of looking to the past. He will never find his sister here, and he will never find his answers here. At least out there, people are finding different ways, and if he can find them then maybe he'll also discover new ways. Ways home, or ways to make himself new. Either way, he isn't afraid. Thanks to Cassandra and Lucrezia, Joshua knows he can go into the Dead Zone and remain himself. He'll have his gun, and plenty of bullets, and that's enough for now.

Well, that and food, which he'll be sure to get plenty of from the castle before departing. The limitless kitchen will certainly be a thing to miss.